I have to drive past a billboard for the American Family Association, a prominent Christian extremist group, every day as I go to and from work. It shows a large button that says "I vote" next to the slogan "Remember in November" and prominently features the URL to the group's website: www.afa.net. I bet some of you have seen these too.

As disappointed as I am with Congressional Democrats and particularly with the blue dog Democrat who currently represents the district in which I reside, this billboard strengthens my resolve to vote. I need to do my part to keep even worse politicians from being elected. I often lose sight of this, but I am reminded every time I pass that billboard.

The billboard also reminds me that we atheists are doing ourselves a great disservice by not investing more time and energy in politics. With our numbers, we could be a potent force for the goals on which the vast majority of us could probably agree:

• Protecting separation of church and state
• Promoting quality, reality-based public education
• Advancing atheist civil rights and educating the public about atheism

I know there are obstacles, but I'm tired of hearing about cat herding. Yes, there are a great many things on which atheists will disagree. But I have to believe that we could come up with a list of 5-10 objectives on which 95% of us could agree. Then we'd have a platform and a place to start.

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I've been feeling increasingly burned out lately. It is mostly about work, but it cuts across the board. This is nothing new. I go through periods of feeling uninspired, and I suppose that is to be expected. They never last long, but it can be tough to write during them. I mention this because I'm writing this post off-the-top-of-my-head, and so I'm not even sure what it will be about. But I suspect it is coming more from my current mood than anything else. You've been warned.

Activism is hard. I bet that any one of us could easily pick out 10 or more issues on which we would like to see real change. We might even work on a few of them from time-to-time. Progress feels too slow and can be tough to even detect at times. And I'd bet that most of us don't even see ourselves as activists, even when it comes to our shared interest in atheism.

In light of recent statements made by Catholic League president Bill Donohue, it occurred to me that it would be useful to have a compendium of evidence pointing to the inescapable conclusion that Adolph Hitler was not an atheist but a Christian. I just started a new Squidoo lens called Hitler was a Christian for this purpose. I don't have much up there yet, and I could use your help. If you have written on the subject or found anything good others have written, please let me know and I'll link to it.

Oh, and any royalties earned from traffic to this lens are set to go to the ASPCA automatically.

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One of the things I have always appreciated about blogging in this particular niche (i.e., writing an atheist-oriented blog) is that there is always something to write about. Of course, that doesn't mean that I never experience writer's block. I certainly do. I've decided that the primary cause, at least for me, has to do with information overload. I suspect this is a factor in writer's block regardless of what topic is under consideration. I have found at least one method that almost always helps me get through my writer's block, but I'd be interested to learn about what works for others too.

I skipped the Idiot of the Week post last week. Frankly, the series has become far more time consuming than I thought it would be. There are so many idiots that I never know who to select! But just in time for this week, a reader sent a recommendation that was way too good to ignore: Renee Ellmers, a Republican Tea Party candidate for Congress in North Carolina.



I hadn't heard of Ms. Ellmers before this, but her idiocy in this interview is startling. Kudos to Cooper for conducting the sort of interview everyone in the media should be able and willing to do when confronted with such a candidate. Seriously, this should serve as an example of how to conduct interviews.

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I look forward to October each year for three reasons. First, it is usually the month that we get our first taste of less humidity here in Mississippi. Second, it is often a good month for horror films on cable and sales on horror DVDs. And third, I find the terror with which many Southern Baptists seem to regard Halloween as quite entertaining. Every day may be Halloween for Christians, but there is still plenty to enjoy about October.